Originally Posted by Marska
I'm from Lake Forest, California and am a rather big guy - 6 foot, 185 pounds and wide shoulders.
$600 is bike only - Bike = handlebars, gears, and wheels. I'm willing to spend another $200 on decent equipment (or just make my own, Kenkifer.com had a good section on that).
At this point I'm up for anything (that god damn bike's gears had become a chunk of rust by the time I was done with it, literally threw it off a cliff once I got to my destination) that is even somewhat managable. A clown bike with streamers would of been better although it was an interesting trip.. Kinda just grabbed some junk and winged it for a few days.
Camping equipment - this is a whole other budget (and I've had good expierence with the Penny Stove. hehe.... Heineken's fun!) and the planning is always easy for me, even the execution, but I didn't have too many points of reference for the main component - the BIKE!
Regardless, I'm looking forward to this summer and kicking ass on the trail east ("Go east young man")
This is a '98 Trek 520 I bought off Craigslist a month ago for $550. It is in mint condition. They list for about $1,150 around here new. It's a well built touring bike and I got all the bells and whistles already on it. It came with drop bars and very good brake levers. I'm also a big guy at 6' and 225lbs. I got rid of the drop bars and the saddle and fitted the bike the way I wanted it. In the month I've had I have ridden over 700 miles with no problems. I would only say that the gears are a bit too high. The Brooks saddle, h'bars, grips, and quality mtb brake levers cost $140 extra.
There are other bikes out there in this class. You can get a great bike used. I second the opinion on using a good mtb for long trips also.
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